


A Funeral Pyre

by himynameisv



Series: Febuwhump 2021 [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, Canon Divergence - Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Character Death, FebuWhump2021, Gen, fuck thanos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 14:28:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29636034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/himynameisv/pseuds/himynameisv
Summary: Amidst the flames, Loki makes a choice; elsewhere, Thor watches as Asgard explodes. An AU to Thor: Ragnarok.FEBUWHUMP PROMPT #22: BURNED
Relationships: Loki & Thor (Marvel)
Series: Febuwhump 2021 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2142768
Comments: 8
Kudos: 31
Collections: febuwhump 2021





	A Funeral Pyre

Loki runs quickly through the burning palace, down the gilded corridors.

He doesn't teleport, doesn't think he really _could_ , with how his hands tremble, how his breaths tear at his lungs. (Besides, where would he go?)

Somewhere, Surtur is screaming bloody murder, and _oh_ , why had he agreed to this abysmal idea?

A pillar falls towards him, and he barely manages to avoid it, turning left, then immediately right when it's clear he can't leave by the way he entered.

But it's useless, isn't it? He can't lie to himself, not now.

He's not leaving.

A Frost Giant is about as flammable as the name suggests.

Ironic, that he had been the one sent on this suicide mission. (Had Thor known? Had he known he'd be sending Loki to certain death? Had he even _considered_ it a possibility, considering all the holes Loki had dug himself out of?

Had he thought Loki an acceptable loss for the good of Asgard?)

Loki swallows and tries not to think about it, but immediately starts to cough due to the smoke in the air. His eyes water.

And then, there! A glowing blue cube, filled with unimaginable power.

The tesseract; his salvation.

His doom.

Despite the roaring flames closing around him, he walks slowly towards the pedestal. The space stone, just sitting right there for his taking, for _anyone's_ taking.

He frowns. He hasn't been down here in a while (what with the memories associated with this place).

It would be so easy to simply take it, to escape.

It would be so laughably easy.

He grabs hold of it, singing with power and familiarity. His magic wraps around it, ready to whisk him away at a moment's notice. His fingers slide over the smooth blue, so similar to his own, beneath the glamour, the mask, the _lie_.

The heat is pressing into the room, and soon the flames will, too. He's starting to feel slightly faint.

He should leave. But -

_"There will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice, where he cannot find you."_

He engulfs the tesseract in his magic, burying it deep in his dimensional pocket. There, nobody but him will be able to access it.

His legs suddenly feel weak, and he collapses to the ground beside the now-empty pedestal.

His breaths shudder in and out of him, but he doesn't think it's because of the heat.

If - if he were to leave with the tesseract, Thanos would find him (it's inevitable).

He might be selfish, but he doesn't want Thor wrapped in whatever mess he's started by letting go at the Bifrost. He doesn't want Thor to know of his deal with the Devil, doesn't think he deserves that after everything.

Surtur roars something else, but he is focused on his breaths. In, out, in, out.

That will stop, soon enough.

Thanos won't see it coming.

It's not that he is scared of death, even as flames lick into the room. His death was set in stone the moment he'd met Thanos. He's been running from it for so long that it's...freeing, to finally stop.

To give up, like the coward he apparently is. (But Thanos won't get the tesseract, and that is what matters, isn't it? Loki may be cruel, but not to the extent of destroying half the universe. He does have morals.)

He closes his eyes, lays on the ground as it starts rumbling.

He really hopes he doesn't go to Hel, despite deserving it. He doesn't want to be instrumental in Hela's death, only to meet her again in the afterlife. That wouldn't do, would it?

And Thor, well, Thor would never end up there.

Loki does, admittedly, want to see him again.

_I'm sorry, Thor_ , he thinks, because surely Thor, with all his naivety, had expected Loki to make it out, make it back to _him_. Thor will probably think he faked his death again, will wait years for him to come back only to be disappointed.

Because that's what Loki does ( _did_ , in a moment). He disappoints.

Thor will keep on hoping, anyways.

It's what he holds onto, as the walls topple and the heat intensifies - the planet exploding, and how is he aware of this? He holds onto his brother's utter foolishness, and indulges in some of his own.

He hopes they'll find one another again.

* * *

Elsewhere, Thor watches as Asgard - as their planet, their _home_ \- explodes.

Korg says something in response to that, but he doesn't listen, not really.

His little brother had been on that.


End file.
